A conservation framework for the Critically Endangered endemic species of the Caribbean palm Coccothrinax B RETT J ESTROW,BRÍGIDO P EGUERO,FRANCISCO J IMÉNEZ,RAÚL V ERDECIA L ISBET G ONZÁLEZ-OLIVA,CELIO E. MOYA,WILLIAM C INEA,M.PATRICK G RIFFITH A LAN W. MEEROW,MIKE M AUNDER and J AVIER F RANCISCO-ORTEGA Abstract With threatened species ( categorized as plant exploration initiatives, taxonomic revisions, outreach, Critically Endangered and as Endangered, sensu IUCN), and fundraising. The ultimate aim of this review is to provide Coccothrinax (c. species) is the flagship palm genus for baseline information that will develop conservation synergy conservation in the Caribbean Island Biodiversity Hotspot. among relevant parties working on Coccothrinax conserva- Coccothrinax has its centre of taxonomic diversity in these tion in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. Such colla- islands, with c. endemic species. We present a conservation borations could also benefit through partnerships with framework for the Critically Endangered species, found botanists working in other countries. in Cuba, Haiti or the Dominican Republic. Only two species Keywords Antilles, Arecaceae, IUCN, plant biodiversity, (C. jimenezii, C. montana) occur in more than one country red lists, taxonomy, tropical islands (Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Immediate threats include oil drilling and nickel mining, intrusion of saline water into soil, urban and agricultural development, low population recruitment, uncontrolled fires, interspecific hy- Introduction bridization, and unsustainable ethnobotanical practices. Coccothrinax bermudezii, C. borhidiana, C. crinita ssp. crini- alms are an iconic feature of the Caribbean landscape ta, C. leonis and C. spissa are not conserved in protected areas. Pand are associated with strong folk and ethnobotani- Coccothrinax bermudezii, C. jimenezii, C. leonis and C. nipen- cal traditions (Liogier, ; Leiva Sánchez, ). The sis are not part of ex situ collections. Based on results from a Caribbean Islands hold endemic species of palms, with conservation project targeting C. jimenezii, we recommend Cuba () and Hispaniola () hosting the majority (Moya international cooperation between the three range states to & Leiva Sánchez, ; Roncal et al., ; Freid et al., ). implement integrative conservation management plans, The islands have two endemic palm genera: Hemithrinax (four species) from Cuba and the monotypic Zombia from Hispaniola. The most widespread genera with endemic spe- cies can be divided into two major groups. The first group BRETT JESTROW Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, USA (c. endemic species in genera) has few species in the BRÍGIDO PEGUERO and FRANCISCO JIMÉNEZ Jardín Botánico Nacional, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic Caribbean Islands but many taxa from the Neotropical mainland. The second group comprises genera with their RAÚL VERDECIA Jardín Botánico Cupaynicú, Guisa, Granma, Cuba centre of diversity in these islands (c. species in six gen- LISBET GONZÁLEZ-OLIVA Herbario Nacional de Cuba, Instituto de Ecología y Sistemática, La Habana, Cuba era: Coccothrinax, Copernicia, Gaussia, Pseudophoenix, Roystonea and Thrinax) and with few species occurring CELIO E. MOYA Sociedad Cubana de Botánica, Sección de Palmas, Boynton Beach, Florida, USA on the mainland (Zona et al., ; Roncal et al., ). WILLIAM CINEA Jardin Botanique des Cayes, Cayes, Haiti Among them, Coccothrinax is the genus with the highest number of species in the Caribbean Islands. M. PATRICK GRIFFITH Montgomery Botanical Center, Coral Gables, Miami, USA − Coccothrinax is regarded as being taxonomically difficult ALAN W. MEEROW United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service−Subtropical Horticultural Research Station, National and in need of further systematic revision (Zona, ). Two Germplasm Repository, Miami, USA prior taxonomic revisions focused on species from Cuba MIKE MAUNDER The Eden Project, Bodelva, Cornwall, UK, and National Tropical (León, ) and the southern Greater Antilles (Bailey, Botanical Garden, Hawaii, USA ). Prior to these two works, Burret () provided a JAVIER FRANCISCO-ORTEGA* (Corresponding author) Department of Biological taxonomic account of the taxa on Cuba and Hispaniola. Sciences, International Center for Tropical Botany, Kimberly Green Latin ’ American and Caribbean Center, Cuban Research Institute, Florida However, Burret s( ) publication was based solely on International University, Miami, USA. E-mail [email protected] material collected by the Swedish botanist and plant collect- – *Also at: Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, Miami, USA or Leonard Ekman ( ). In the s the Hungarian – Received December . Revision requested January . botanist A. Borhidi ( ) and the Caribbean botanist Accepted April . First published online September . O. Muñiz (–) described new species for Cuba, Oryx, 2018, 52(3), 452–463 © 2017 Fauna & Flora International doi:10.1017/S0030605317000588 Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. IP address: 170.106.34.90, on 29 Sep 2021 at 05:41:13, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0030605317000588 Conservation framework for Coccothrinax 453 resulting in a palm catalogue for the island (Muñiz & Islands, covering () relationships between taxonomy and Borhidi, ). Additional attempts were made to clarify conservation, () integrative species conservation manage- the taxonomy of Coccothrinax (Nauman & Sanders, a, ment, () in situ and ex situ conservation, () plant ex- b), based on phylogenetic analyses of morphological traits ploration, () the role of DNA data in understanding mostly observed from cultivated plants. phylogenetic relationships and patterns of genetic diversity, The current taxonomic uncertainties within this genus and () outreach and environmental education. arise, in part, from the work of Henderson et al. (), Based on our own conservation initiatives we assert that whose influential field guide for New World palms recog- international collaboration within the region provides the nized only species. Nevertheless, most palm taxonomists best possible approach to deal with these six issues. Similar and botanists working on the Caribbean Islands (e.g. Moya conservation challenges are faced by other threatened ende- & Leiva Sánchez, ; Acevedo-Rodríguez & Strong, ; mics of the Caribbean Islands (reviewed by Maunder et al., Greuter & Rankin, ) do not follow that narrow taxo- , , and Carey et al., ), and we propose that con- nomic view and still recognize many species that were servation initiatives centred on Coccothrinax could be ap- synonymized by Henderson et al. (). For instance, plied effectively to other taxa. A main goal of this review is C. jamaicensis and C. proctorii are currently regarded as dis- to provide a framework for land managers, conservationists, tinct species endemic to Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, palm biologists and environmental educators that will offer a respectively (Proctor, ; Duno de Stefano & Moya, regional perspective for what we consider the flagship palm ). Likewise, botanists from Cuba and Hispaniola still ac- genus for conservation in the Caribbean Islands. This is par- cept Coccothrinax species that Henderson et al. () syno- ticularly relevant as this Biodiversity Hotspot comprises sev- nomized (e.g. González-Oliva et al., , ; Peguero eral countries with a range of historical and sociological et al., b; Verdecia, ). backgrounds (Maunder et al., , ). The current available taxonomic framework for Data collection pertinent to ex situ conservation of Coccothrinax is not the result of a single monographic en- these threatened species in botanic gardens, as well as deavour, and therefore as a working taxonomy for our con- literature reviews, were conducted during January – tribution we follow the classification system currently March . Field observations were conducted during accepted by most palm biologists and plant taxonomists –. working in the region (Fig. ). Therefore, we consider that the genus has species, with of these endemic to the Ecology, biology, and conservation biology of the Caribbean Islands (Fig. ). These island endemics are re- Critically Endangered species of Coccothrinax stricted to the Bahamas and the Greater Antilles (except Puerto Rico). The taxonomic placement of C. alta, thought Red List assessments of Coccothrinax species to be endemic to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands (Acevedo-Rodríguez & Strong, ), needs further study. Zona et al. () assessed the conservation status of species In this review, C. alta is considered a synonym of C. barba- of Coccothrinax of the Caribbean Islands using the IUCN densis following the recent treatment of Acevedo-Rodríguez Red List categories and criteria (IUCN, , ). Other & Strong (). Red List assessments have targeted Coccothrinax and other Two Caribbean species (C. argentata and C. barbadensis) endemic plant species of the Cayman Islands (Burton, are found both on the islands and on the mainland, and only ), Cuba (Rankin Rodríguez & Areces Berazaín, ; one species (C. readii) is restricted to the mainland (Fig. ). Berazaín Iturralde et al., ; González-Oliva et al., , The vast majority of Caribbean Island endemic species are ; González-Torres et al., ) and Hispaniola (Peguero single-island endemics, with the exception of C. fragrans &Jiménez,; Peguero et al., b). Of the species of (found on Hispaniola and Cuba). Reports of the presence Coccothrinax endemic to the Caribbean